The lineup for Sunday’s 65th running of NASCAR’s Daytona 500 is now set.
And perhaps no one is more surprised than IndyCar driver Conor Daley who despite an ill handling car was able to race his way in grabbing one of the two spots left.
An action packed second Duel race capped off a night of qualifying seen only at Daytona International Raceway to open NASCAR’s season.
Joey Logano won a sedate Duel 1. The winner of the season opening exhibition race in Los Angeles two weeks ago held off Christopher Bell as Zane Smith raced his way into Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Ryan Blaney led until the halfway point of the 60-lap race when the Fords pitted with the Toyota’s. Logano emerged with the lead on the exchange and held it until the end fending off a hard charging Christopher Bell at the line.
“The execution of this race is everything because you know most likely there won’t be a caution, so you’ve got to do a good job on pit road, cycle yourself to the front,” Logano said. “But then I am sitting there as the leader and I’m like, man, I am a sitting duck. This is not where you want to be.
“I was hoping they started racing back there, which they did, which ended up kind of working out for me. And then when the 20 got to me, I saw Blaney was behind me. I said, that’s my buddy. I’ve got to stick with him. I knew the 20 would make the run to the outside, and I probably wasn’t going to be able to defend that, and just waited for the 12 to push me through there.”
The Chevrolets in the field had a strategy that seemed to backfire as they decided to short pit on lap 22. Pole sitter Alex Bowman, already secure in his spot for Sunday bailed out early and spent the rest of the race at the back of the field, with the top 9 all made up of Fords and Toyotas. William Byron was the lone Chevy in the top 10.
Behind Bell, Blaney was third followed by Chris Buescher and Michael McDowell rounding out the top five. Bowman finished 17th in the 21-car field.
The other open car trying to race in was Chandler Smith. His hopes were dashed when he was penalized for speeding on pit road during the lap 22 stops. He finished 18th.
“I’m fine with this,” Chandler Smith said. “I had a lot of fun right there. I learned a lot, a lot, a lot, now I get what these guys talk about when you run on a Sunday you gain a lot of experience. That translates into Saturdays and Sundays.”
Kevin Harvick, Bubba Wallace, Zane Smith, and Harrison Burton were sixth through ninth ahead of Byron in Duel 1.
Kyle Larson led the field to green for the second Duel. But it was Aric Almirola who had started second leading when the first caution of the night came out on lap 6 for debris which turned out to be the passenger side window of Justin Haley’s car that came out on the backstretch.
The entire field pitted during the caution with Almirola keeping the top spot after a fuel only stop. Green came out on lap 10. Larson grabbed the lead with a push by Kyle Busch; Busch returned the favor a lap later by taking the top spot on the high line. Larson on the inside swapped the top spot with Busch in the ensuing laps. In his first points paying race with Richard Childress Racing, Busch took a clear lead on lap 15 and as the field fell into single file behind him, he began to take control of the race.
On lap 40 it all came apart though as Busch was turned by Daniel Suarez while leading down the backstretch. Busch was done for the night, but open driver Austin Hill who needed to race his way in and was in the top 10 was also swept up in the melee. Hill was able to continue with his Chevy limping to the pits. Travis Pastrana and Riley Herbst however weren’t, and both joined Busch with a DNF.
Hill was able to continue after pitting but had to come back in on the next lap. On the second stop the hood came up, the crew tried to affect repairs, but the DVP clock expired; Hill was out while Daley was locked into Sunday’s race capping off a wild story.
Wednesday Daley wasn’t able to post a qualifying time due to a mechanical issue and started Duel 2 last. Thursday night under the pace laps his Chevy was seen bouncing wildly. During the race he fell a lap down, but on the end good fortune smiled on the IndyCar star when Hill was forced to park and was out while Daley was in.
“We were inherently unlucky for the last 36 hours, but we got lucky,” Daley said. “I wish I could have said that I drove it in on pure pace, but it was just crazy.
“When we went out there, the car was bouncing around. I had no idea what was going on. I thought the drivetrain was broken, and Tony just made it better every time. We got lucky with the yellows to try to get some experience, but it is pretty crazy.
“This race, I’ve watched it for so many years and so much crazy stuff can happen, and thankfully we were on the right side of the craziness. It’s pretty amazing.”
During the caution for the lap 40 crash, the field pitted but Suarez who came in second, overshot his pit and came out at the back of the field, while Larson came out with the top spot. The field took the green on lap 46, 14 laps to go.
It again became an Almirola, Larson duel as the laps wound down with Almirola grabbing the lead on lap 48 and diving down in front of Larson. Defending Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric crept up on the outside and had second with 6 laps to go. Cindric on the top, Almirola on the bottom swapped the top spot in the final laps.
Todd Gilliland emerged from a wild lap with the lead as the field came to two to go. After the field took the white flag entering Turn 2, Larson pushed Gilliland on the bottom sending the Gilliland’s Ford onto the apron; the field was able to miss the Gilliland car as Almirola took the lead and held on for the win over Cindric.
“I did have my hands full,” Almirola said. “Drew said this Smithfield Ford Mustang was going to be fast, but he said I would probably have my hands full. We kind of went for it in qualifying and put on the speed in the car sacrificed some handling, and as you could see tonight it was a handful, but, man, this is so cool.
“Daytona is such a special place to me. I’ve grew up sitting in those grandstands dreaming about racing here. I want that one on Sunday, though.”
Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski and Corey LaJoie rounded out the top five. Almirola who had announced his retirement at the end of 2021 but elected to return, has now won two Duel races in the last three years.
With Zane Smith securing his spot Sunday’s 500 will mark the first time the reigning Truck series champion, Xfinity champion (Ty Gibbs) and Cup champion will compete in the Great American Race. Daley will be the first driver to compete in the Daytona 500 and the Indy 500 in the same year.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.